This invention relates to applying annotations to electronic documents. Electronic documents are collections or aggregations of electronic data, such as files or collections of files, that typically can be displayed with an appearance that resembles that of a paper document. Early electronic document applications—that is, applications in which electronic documents can be created, manipulated and viewed, in any combination—such as word processors, publishing applications, and the like, allowed a user to do little more than add and change text on an electronic document page with simple formatting selections. As electronic document applications have evolved, the number of options to alter the appearance of electronic documents has grown. Some applications allow users to add annotations, such as stamps, to an electronic document. One such electronic document application, Adobe® Acrobat®, available from Adobe Systems Incorporated of San Jose, Calif., allows a user to apply one or more of a number of stamps. The stamp can display a word, such as “Confidential”, “Draft”, “Approved” or any of a number of other available selections.
Adding a stamp to an electronic document can be as simple as selecting a stamping tool with a pointing device, moving a cursor controlled by the pointing device to the area of the document where the stamp is to be applied, and activating the pointing device. The selected stamp is applied by the application. The stamp can be altered by modifying one or more stamp properties—for example, selecting a new appearance for the stamp, dragging the stamp to another section of the document or deleting the stamp.